Moments in Time
by leafpool310
Summary: Before being tortured into insanity, Frank and Alice Longbottom had many years together. This is their last day, with memories of their life together.


Frank and Alice had previously been enjoying a quiet morning off. Neville was at his grandmother's, had been in long days since Voldemort had vanished. His grandmother hadn't seen him in six months, since they'd been forced to go into hiding along with the Potters, and so she'd asked if the young boy could spend a week at her house. The young Longbottoms, grateful for the time alone with only each other, agreed.

They'd eaten a small breakfast before heading back to the small study they had on the side of their house. It was there they'd been when the crash of the front door had them jumping to their feet, hands searching for wands that weren't on them. Panic filled them as they realized in their complicity, in the calm after the storm, they'd left them in their bedrooms.

"Go," Frank hissed to his wife, preparing to fight without magic, but she reached out and grabbed his arm, determined not to leave him behind. This was moot, however, as they realized a second later anti-apparation spells had been placed on their home. "Run," Frank said then, but even as he said it, he knew she wouldn't go. They'd been inseparable, almost since the day they'd met fifteen years ago.

_Eleven year old Alice Prewett stood nervously in a room filled with other equally nervous eleven year olds. She wondered what would happen if she couldn't be sorted? Would she be sent home?_

_A boy standing near her nudged her arm. "I heard it's a hat," he whispered quietly in her ear. "That's what mum said, and I dunno why she'd lie to me."_

_Alice looked at him, the butterfly feeling in her stomach not going away. "But what if they send me home?" she whispered back, finally confessing what had plagued her all day long. Her brother Ritchie had turned out to be a squib, and he was the shame of the family - sent to live with muggles in the nearby village once it was confirmed he didn't have magic._

_The boy shook his head, a small grin on his lips. "If you're here you've got magic. You wouldn't have gotten a letter without magic. Everyone knows that."_

_Relief filled the small girl as the door swung open and a woman - the woman who'd met them at the castle doors - reentered._

_"They're ready for you now," she declared. "Follow me."_

_They obeyed, the boy sticking close to Alice, nudging her arm every now and again and whispering some fact about Hogwarts. "Of course, it's not really the night sky, but that's obvious," he was saying now, as they passed a table full of students with green patches on their robes - Slytherins. "It was enchanted by Rowena Ravenclaw herself, during some of the last years the founders actually taught here."_

_They'd reached the front of the Great Hall by the end of his sentence, and Alice blinked, and blinked again, at the ragged hat seated on a stool. This was the hat that would sort them? If that had been in her home, granddad would've thrown it out already! She was still in slight amazement when the hat split open and began to sing._

_She found it hard to concentrate on the song spewing from the hat, so instead she let her gaze sweep around the room. There was her cousin Molly, who'd just gone into her sixth year, seated with a redheaded boy. That must be her boyfriend, she thought. She couldn't recall his name, Arnold she thought, or something similar._

_Then people's names were being called. She watched blankly as they went to different houses._

_"Longbottom, Frank," McGonagall called out, and the boy next to her nudged her again, gave her a whispered "good luck", before going up to the stool and sitting. Alice watched as the hat was dropped onto his head, and just a little bit later he was marching over to the Gryffindor table._

_She swallowed heavily, as "Patil, Aarav," was sent to Ravenclaw, knowing she was coming up. And sure enough, two names later, "Prewett, Alice," was being called out. On shaking legs, she made her way through the dwindling number of first years, and to the stool, her fingers gripping the sides so tight she could feel the wood digging into her hands, and knew there'd be a mark later._

_When the hat began talking to her, she jumped, heart racing, but it didn't take him long to make a decision before he called out "Gryffindor!" and she was able to sink onto one of the long benches, beside the boy from earlier, Frank._

_"Welcome to Gryffindor!" He told her with a friendly grin, as the rest of the students were sorted. She just sat there in relief, thankful to have been sorted, as the feast began._

They tried hiding, but really, they both knew it was pointless. The intruders had wands; judging by the flashing light they could see through the window, and it was only a matter of time until they were found. Knowing death was coming, especially once one of the intruders came into view and they realized it was Bellatrix Lestrange, they held hands and were grateful their son wasn't there. Just a few more hours, they knew, and he would've been home; they were supposed to pick him up that afternoon.

"Mum will send someone," Frank whispered to Alice, as the realization came to them both. "Maybe it'll be in time."

But they knew it wouldn't be, as the destruction slowly crept toward them, and so Frank put his arms around his trembling wife, his own arms shaking slightly, as they waited for death.

_Exams were slowly creeping up on them, and Alice was flustered. She sat in the library surrounded by parchment and ink quills and books, frantically going over her notes again and again. She'd always had a horrible memory, especially in times when she needed to remember things the most, and so she was almost positive she'd fail the exams and get kicked out of Hogwarts. Then she'd probably have to go live with Ritchie, who was attending a muggle university to be an accountant, and he'd have to drop out to get a job to pay for them both, and -_

_Her thoughts were interrupted by Frank, who dropped his schoolbag onto the desk next to her, the noise loud in the quiet library. He was immediately shushed by the librarian, but he ignored her, asking Alice if she was ready for the exams._

_Close to tears, the blonde girl could only shake her head. "I'm going to fail," she managed to get out, before the tears came, slipping down her pale face before she could stop them. "Mum and Dad and Ritchie will be so disappointed in me, Ritchie especially because he couldn't come to Hogwarts and wanted me to do my best here, and oh, he'd be so much better at all this then I am, why am I not the squib?"_

_Frank stared at her throughout her outburst with his mouth dropped open in surprise. Alice had been quiet most of the year, though she hung out with Frank quite frequently, the pair studying as much as they could together. Their dorm mates were friendly, of course, and Alice liked most of them, but she found that when she was around them, she didn't have much to say._

_It didn't help that rumors were flying about Ritchie, and why he'd never attended Hogwarts. It wasn't well known that the Prewetts had a squib in the family, but Ritchie himself was known, for he was supposed to be the heir. That position had gone to Alice's cousin, Bilius, now, who had just graduated Hogwarts and started a job at St. Mungos._

_"You're not going to fail," Frank said finally, smiling at her reassuringly. "I don't think anyone has ever failed so bad they got kicked out of school!"_

_"Than I'll be the first one," Alice said miserably._

_"Nah." She looked up at him. "I don't think you will. What are you having trouble with the most?"_

_"Potions."_

_"Okay. Then let's study potions!" He drew her books closer to himself and began quizzing her on need-to-know plants, high-fiving her whenever she'd get one right._

_Slowly, very slowly, she began to have confidence that she did know this stuff._

When the door burst open, Frank didn't let go of his wife. They stayed crouched down behind the desk, holding each other, as the furniture around them was destroyed. They had seconds now, and they locked eyes, determined that each other would be the last thing they saw. And then the desk was blown to bits, and a cackling laugh filled the room.

"I found them!" Bellatrix screeched. There were footsteps and before long, Frank and Alice were surrounded by four death eaters, ones that Alice immediately recognized. The fourth person in the room she hadn't known was a death eater, but eyeing Bartemius Crouch Junior now, it shouldn't have been a surprise.

But the death Alice had been expecting wasn't immediate, though the glee shining in Bellatrix's eyes should have told her that as two of the male death eaters - brothers, the Lestrange brothers, in fact - each took one of Franks arms and dragged him away from her. Her empty arms were grabbed by the remaining two, Bellatrix and Barty, and they were both taken into their home, thrown down onto the wooden floor, four wands pointed in their direction.

"I love you," Frank mouthed in her direction, and she mouthed it back, the fear rising to take hold of her throat so that the words wouldn't come out, even if she'd tried to speak.

"We're gonna only ask this once," Rodolphus, the elder brother, snarled. "And I want the right answer. Where is our Lord?"

"What lord?" Frank spat. "Voldemort? He's no Lord."

"Crucio!" Bellatrix hissed, and the light hit Frank, and he screamed, the sound cutting deep into Alice's heart.

_Somehow, she'd passed her fourth year exams. Alice was relieved, but she shouldn't have been surprised. After all, she panicked every year, and every year she passed, thanks to Frank. He'd helped calm her down in her scrambling, and congratulated her whenever she passed as if it was merely her doing._

_Sitting outside in the grass, she scanned the crowd of students that were celebrating. She didn't see Frank at first, but then she spotted him; he was over by the lake, embracing a dark haired girl that wore a yellow patch on her robes. The sight made her feel sick, but as she gathered up her things and headed back into the castle, she didn't stop to wonder why._

"We don't know!" Alice blurted, after the third cruciatus curse had struck her husband. He looked awful;he'd lost what little color he had, sweat making his blonde hair stick to his forehead, lips raw and bleeding. The smell of fresh vomit hung in the air; Bellatrix had him under the spell for a full two minutes this time, and he'd nearly choked as the puke came up. Almost looking bored, Barty vanished the mess.

"What don't you know?" he questioned, looking at Alice now. "Where he is? If he's dead? What? What don't you know?"

"We - Dumbledore told us he's dead, that the Potter boy destroyed him-"

"LIES!" Bellatrix roared. "Crucio!" This time the spell hit Alice, and she couldn't help but scream from the pain, the pain that was somehow worse than childbirth, the pain that flowed through her body as it traveled along her very core.

_Alice was hurrying down the corridor, Frank a few steps behind her, pleading. "C'mon, I don't even know why you're mad! Could you just tell me?"_

_"I'm late for muggle studies," she snapped at him, hurrying past a group of laughing Hufflepuffs."_

_"Alice!" Frank's voice came out in nearly a whine. "You don't have muggle studies for thirty minutes. Would you please talk to me?"_

_"No!" She flung at him. "Go talk to Marian if you have to talk to someone!"_

_Frank threw himself in front of her. "Hold on. Is that what this is about? Me dating Marian?" He couldn't help himself, and laughed._

_"Don't laugh at me," Alice complained, crossing her arms and glaring. "It isn't funny. You've been practically ignoring me since you guys started dating, and we've been friends for five years. It's not fair."_

_"Alice." Frank was confused. "Are you jealous? We spend every afternoon together!" Alice swallowed, looking away from him, and he could only gape incredulously for a moment. "Alice, do you like me?"_

_"So what if I do?" she questioned, face flushing. "You're dating Marian, and it's not like you'd even consider me if you weren't."_

_Frank's voice was strained as he spoke again. "The only reason I didn't ask you out instead of Marian was because you and Catherine were gushing about Patil. I thought you liked him! I don't even really like Marian that much, but-" His face, too, turned red. "She likes me and she's not a bad kisser."_

_Alice made a face. "Catherine likes Aarav. I've - well, I've always liked you."_

_Frank grinned. "Why didn't you ever say so?" And then he leaned forward and kissed her in the middle of the hall._

_When Frank went to tell Marian that things were over between them, she'd just grinned at him. "Alice, huh?" She said. When Frank nodded sheepishly, she punched his arm, laughing. "I only dated you so Alice would get off her arse and say something about her feelings, you idiot."_

_"So you're not angry?" He questioned, and told her about the kiss._

_"A little, I mean, you could've at least broken up with me first!"_

"It's all lies!" Bellatrix's voice somehow managed to cut through the fog that had wrapped itself around her brain. "A baby cannot have defeated the Dark Lord! Crucio!" The spell, which Alice had braced herself for, went past her this time, striking Frank yet again. He'd stopped screaming, now, a low rasping sound coming from deep in his throat.

The room was filled with the various smells of piss and vomit and feces, the death eaters no longer vanishing the mess, leaving their victims covered in their own waste. It had been hours since the torture had begun, by Alice's count, though it couldn't have been that long, really. They were supposed to go pick Neville up by three, and if they were even the slightest bit late Augusta had informed them she'd go straight to the ministry and have the aurors sent to their house. And what Augusta promised to do, she did.

It had been a threat, of course, for Alice had been late picking him up before when her mother in law had prior plans. But the threat could be their salvation, if it wasn't too late by then.

"Where did they take Potter then?" Rabastan growled, leering over her. "Where's the boy?"

"Not - here," Alice managed to get out, through the lump in her throat as her hand reached out toward Frank. Frank, who was so still, staring up at the ceiling, the only sign he still lived the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Before her hand touched her husband, a foot slammed down on it, and she felt the bones break, and screamed - and she kept screaming as another curse came her way.

_As the seventh years - Hogwarts graduates now - climbed into their separate boats, Alice couldn't help sending one last look toward the castle._

_There'd been rumors lately, of unrest outside Hogwarts walls, and a name, first boasted loudly, but now was only spoken in whispers. People were dying, entire families being killed. The minister had resigned, unable to deal with the so called "Dark Lord", and they had a new one, but he wasn't doing anything against the threat either._

_She looked back as Frank grasped her hand. "It'll be okay," he murmured to her, and she managed a small smile, but really, how could it be okay? They'd both signed up to be aurors, so they'd be facing the danger head on._

_They boarded the train, and headed back to London, and from there Frank and Alice went to Frank's family home, where the pair would be staying until it was time for their auror training to begin in mid August._

_The weeks they spent there were amazing, going out every afternoon to the lake and swimming until it was too dark to see, and then swimming some more with lamps lighting the edges of the water._

_Augusta Longbottom was a strict woman, her only soft spot her son. So when eighteen year old Frank went up to her and said he wanted to propose, she slipped off her own engagement ring and passed it over to him. Frank looked at his mother in shock, but she insisted, and off he went, not seeing the tears well up in her eyes._

_That night, which was their last night before she had to go back home and their auror training began, Frank organized a picnic out by the lake with the help of Dokey, the Longbottom house elf. Sandwiches were put in a charmed basket that would keep them fresh until they were ready to be eaten, and a cake was put in another, a cake that was in Alice's favorite flavor and had four special words written on it in buttercream icing._

_The entire walk to the lake, Frank's heart was pounding in his chest. What if she said no? He wondered. What if she doesn't love me? The fact that they'd already spent two years together, and half of that was spent dreaming of a future together, had slipped his mind entirely and only dread filled his thoughts now. But he really shouldn't have worried. They ate the sandwiches, and Frank asked Alice if she could bring out the cake. When she'd turned away from him, he dug into his pocket and pulled out the ring, so when she read the words written on the top and had turned back around, he was bent on one knee with the lamp's firelight glinting off the diamond._

_"Do you mean it?" she whispered, tears in her eyes. When he nodded, she let the tears flow, and flung herself forward and hugged him tightly. Her weight added onto his already precarious balance sent them both to the ground, their laughter ringing in their ears minutes later as he slipped the ring onto her finger._

Alice must have lost consciousness, for when she came to, Bellatrix was no longer shouting, Rodolphus and Rabastan and Barty had gone off somewhere, and it was only her and Bellatrix and Frank left in the room, but Bellatrix wasn't even looking at them, she was looking out a window, bored, almost. Pain shot out from her broken hand to the rest of her arm, but she still crawled through the excrement on the floor, crawled over to Frank's too still form.

She placed her good hand on his face. He was warm, and the touch made his eyes flicker in her direction, and she nearly sobbed when there was no recognition in them. Frank's body was on the floor in front of her, but his mind had gone.

_Alice stood nervously in front of a mirror as Augusta Longbottom fiddled with her thick hair with numerous charms. Her own parents had passed a year into her auror training, killed by the men calling themselves death eaters, so Augusta and her husband had helped her get through the rest of it, and now the pair were a second set of parents to her. Gerald was waiting at the door to walk her into her new life, and she was grateful for it._

_Augusta finally settled on a simple bun, ringlets framing her face, and declared Alice to be stunning. "Are you ready?" The elder woman asked, and Alice nodded nervously._

_Why she was nervous, she didn't know. She and Frank had been together six years already, two years in school and four since they graduated, and if he'd wanted to leave her she was sure he would have by now, before they spent so much on the lavish wedding._

_As she walked toward her soon-to-be husband, she didn't look at the guests seated in neat little rows, although she knew their eyes were on her. Her focus was Frank, her Frank, the love of her life. Her future._

_They said their vows and exchanged rings, but later that day Alice wouldn't really remember any of it as more than a happy blur. They newlyweds were announced, and their friends cheered, and the Longbottoms were off, for a week in Italy._

"Please," Alice begged, for the first time since the death eaters had broken in. If Frank got to St Mungos in time, maybe he could be fixed, maybe they could - she couldn't finish that thought, as another spell hit her. It wasn't a cruciatus; they'd agreed to cut back on them so that Alice, at least, might keep her mind, and they could learn what they wanted to know. "Please," she croaked again, but Bellatrix hissed, drawing back a booted foot and kicking her in the side. She groaned, folding into herself, letting her mind float to when they were happy, when this wasn't happening.

_Alice was waiting for Frank to get home. They'd been married for three wonderful years, and they'd discussed starting a family. But with Voldemort - or you-know-who, as people had started to call him - gained power, they'd agreed they should probably wait. But Alice knew they both longed for a child, and when she'd started feeling sick, she grew excited. She hadn't told him yet, not until she was sure, but she'd gone to Augusta that morning, and the elder woman had performed the spell for her, the spell she was too scared to cast._

_She'd gone immediately back home, only to find Frank had gone out._

_When the door opened and Frank came in, she didn't rush to him like she'd planned, for the state of his clothes took her by surprise._

_They were covered in blood._

_"Hon, you should sit down," he said heavily. She immediately obeyed, sinking into the seat she'd just vacated. "It's your cousins. Gideon and Fabian. They've been killed."_

_Her sight tilted, and she came to on the ground, with a terrified Frank leaning over her. "Molly," she croaked. "She's just - she's just had another baby, hasn't she? She'll be heartbroken. Her brothers - both of them in one night-"_

_"It's terrible, yes." Frank helped her sit, leaning against the chair. "It's why I wanted to ask you if you'd - be willing to stop hunting the death eaters down for a little while. I want you home, safe, and you won't be safe if you're still going out with the aurors every other day."_

_"I'll have to quit anyway," Alice said absently, her mind still on her poor cousin Molly with six boys, who now had to bury her only brothers._

_"Why?" Frank asked, but she was far away. He reached forward and gripped her shoulders. "Alice. Why do you have to quit the aurors?" His face was stern, but there was a look in his eye she couldn't place - hope, maybe? Or fear? But it was definitely one of happiness after her next words._

_"I'm pregnant."_

They'd gone back to the cruciatus curse, but it was different now, in intervals, every other spell being something else, the yelling and screaming and demands coming out more frantic, but even if she wanted to answer, she couldn't, she didn't know where the Potter boy had gone, if she'd known she would have taken him in immediately and he would have been here, in this mess. So really it was for the best he wasn't here, wasn't it?

The last cruciatus spell hit her just as there came loud cracks from outside, the sound of apparation. Whoever had the spell on her kept it going, kept the pain going, on and on for several long minutes.

Just before her mind slipped away, Alice saw a team of aurors storm in, their blurry forms unrecognizable. And then she was gone, her mind floating away to a faraway lake with someone she loved very deeply. Her eyes closed.

_The contractions had started at midnight, and Frank wasn't home. It figures he wouldn't be home, on the very night Alice went into labor. She'd begged and begged him to take that night off, to stay home with her. "It could be tonight," she'd told him, but he'd laughed it off and gone to do something for Dumbledore._

_She groaned again as another contraction hit, and she stumbled to the fireplace, calling for the Weasley residence. Molly answered at once, yelled out something to her husband, and came through, sending Alice back to bed at once._

_"It's no big deal that Frank's gone," she was saying, as she gathered clean clothes and a rather sharp pair of scissors. "Arthur's been out of the room for all six of my boys. You want this bit missed, it means he'll do more of the messy things in the future." Through another contraction, Alice bit back a surprised laugh._

_Throughout the next hours, the pain came in ever increasing waves, and just as Molly was telling her to "Push, push," their front door flew open and Frank was there, rushing to the head of the bed and taking her hand in his._

_"So sorry I'm late," he whispered to his wife, kissing on the forehead. She managed a grunt in his direction as she bore down._

_They named him Neville, after Alice's father. He didn't have much hair, just a small blonde tuff on the back of his head, but he was the most beautiful baby Alice had ever seen. She held him close to her breast, tears of exhaustion mixed with the ones of joy and wonder. She couldn't believe she was a mother, and to such an amazing boy._

_In that moment, Alice Longbottom saw her son's future, a future full of as much joy and wonder as she felt in that second, full of fun holidays with his family, a future free of the suppression from the Dark Lord that they felt even now._

_He would be happy, she vowed. He'd never have to know the fear from Voldemort. Alice promised her son on the day he was born that she'd make sure he lived in a world that was free of Voldemort._

_If only that had come to pass._

When Alice opened her eyes, she was in a very bright room, surrounded by people she didn't recognize.

"Mrs. Longbottom," one of them said. "Do you recall who the Minister for Magic is?"

"Millicent Bagnold," she stammered. The group around her exchanged glances. "That - isn't that right?"

"No ma'am," the same man said, after a long pause. "Can you recall your name and birthdate?"

"Ali- Alice Prewett Longbottom. August 9th, 1955." They again exchanged glances, but Alice knew that this answer was correct. "Where am I?" she demanded. "Where are Frank and Neville?"

"I'm here, mum," a voice said from the back, and the group split to allow a young man through, a young man carrying a little blonde girl with pigtails in his arms.

Alice blinked at him. "Frank?" she croaked, but it couldn't be him, this boy had her eyes.

"No mum." The man settled onto a stool next to her, after handing the girl over to a young woman with red hair. "It's me. Neville."

"Mrs. Longbottom, what's the last thing you remember?" One of the healers - for Alice had finally recognized the room as being in St Mungos - questioned. She thought back.

"We'd just dropped Neville off at his grandmothers," she said, finally settling on the most recent event. They'd dropped their son off and gone out to eat, before going home and - what? What had they done after? How had she ended up here?

The healers must have noted her panic, for a bottle of clear liquid was shoved into her hands. She looked down at it blankly. "Take it, mum," Neville - but how could he be Neville? Neville was still so tiny! - said to her, and she listened, swallowing the calming potion.

And then they told her everything. It had been twenty five years since that day she and Frank had dropped Neville off, and he was now the same age she'd been then. She'd missed a quarter of a century of her son's life. But she couldn't remember the years, couldn't remember the day that Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers and Bartemous Crouch - "Little Barty did this to me?" She'd asked, astonished - had broken into their home.

"I'd almost given up," Neville admitted, when all the healers had left the room and it was just her and her son and his wife, and their daughter. "I've paid at least a dozen potion masters and herbologists, and even a magizoologist to help find a cure for you, to help bring you back to me." He squeezed her hand.

"Where's Frank?" she asked then, and Neville winced. "What is it?"

"Dad's not responding to the potion as well as you did," he confessed to her. "I don't think it worked on him. But we'll keep trying, I promise. So we can be a family again."

"I want to see him." Though the healers protested, soon enough she'd been put in a wheelchair and brought down to the Janis Thickney ward, the same ward she'd spent twenty five years in.

Seeing Frank sent a pain straight to her heart. He sat in a chair by the window, but his eyes were blank, as if he wasn't really seeing what was outside. The healers wanted her to go back to her own room but she refused, insisting that Neville wheel her closer to her husband. She reached forward and grasped his hands in hers.

"My love," she whispered, so that the healers couldn't hear. Neville, she was okay with, but the healers were strangers. "Please come back to me."

When Frank turned to look at her moments later, she thought it was just a light catching his eyes just right. But when he blinked, and gripped her hands, she knew, he'd come back to her.


End file.
